Tuesday, January 27, 2009

A few years ago I was deep into reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. I was enthralled with the story, the writing, the whole experience of the novel. I had been stealing time during the day to finish it, taking the local train instead of the express, lingering at lunch longer than I needed to, I was experiencing the rush of reading a good book. I wanted to know how it ended and I never wanted it to be over.

I got so lost in the story that I ended up staying up until 3 o'clock in the morning to finish it. When I closed the back cover and looked up at the ceiling I sighed. I had given up my sleep and was amply rewarded.

Until a few weeks ago, I had only known what that feels like from the reader's point of view. I never imagined what it would be like to hear that about a story I wrote. And then I got an email from my editor sharing feedback she got from an early reader. Among many wonderful things, she said she stayed up until 1:00 in the morning to finish it and commented that was no small feat as she was the mother a very active two year old.

My first reaction was to want to say, "I know how that feels," and tell her all about the books I had that experience with and how great it is to get so lost in a story that you are willing to give up sleep! My second reaction was, "Oh my God, that's my book!"

Surreal. Sur-really exciting.

On Saturday, I got an email again from my editor delivering the first author blurb for the book. I was standing in my friend Gina's kitchen and scrolled down to the quote. I sat down and then stood back up again. "What's wrong?" Gina asked.

I just kept saying, "I can't believe this, this is amazing."

It was a great blurb from a writer I admire. Again I had that odd sensation of thinking after reading the blurb, "this sounds like a book I should read." I should look into this Teri Coyne she sounds like an interesting person.

I have these moments when I see my name on the cover or read comments like these when I suspect that there is another Teri Coyne, and while she and I look alike and share many things, the Teri Coyne who is the author if The Last Bridge, is not me --not the writer who hates semi-colons, dreads copy edits, and has huge problems with continuity. That Teri Coyne appears to have her act together, the one writing this post just spilled Ranch dressing all over her sweater.

At this rate the only reason I'll be staying up late tonight is to do laundry.